Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Ninety-eight

As the ground beneath our feet turned into mud and the water of the lake rose, the rejoicing turned into a race for shelter beneath the tall evergreens. The sound of rain deafened us and the curtain of water was just as blinding as the smoke had been. Through the shadows, one by one the males who had been risking life and limb returned to our scrappy camp. With my tiger, leopard, snake and wolf having all stayed near the lake, we quickly reunited. It was when I saw Tristan come through the break in the trees that my wet feet mindlessly splashed through the deepening puddles as I ran to greet him.

His wounds were painful to look at and he was covered in soot. He walked slowly as though all the energy he'd had was utterly spent. Harvey followed me over and as we got to him, his tired eyes looked at us with surprise. I'm not sure why, but he hadn't expected us to welcome him back so warmly. Upset that he felt so removed from our family, I became bolder.

When I got close enough, I held one cheek with my hand and kissed the other. "Thank you, Tristan. You've worked hard."

He looked stunned at my actions and didn't even flinch when Harvey took his injured hands and immediately started applying a salve to them. I smiled a little at the cute reaction. Then Kit was running over yipping his excitement that his mentor had made it back.

Since we were all getting drenched, we swiftly moved back to sit beneath the shelter of trees. Harvey continued to treat Tristan's burns and Lance returned all the other cubs to their respective families before coming back to us. Then the peacocks arrived. Besides the ones who had gone back early due to smoke inhalation, they followed behind the light green haired male and walked over to Winston. With the rain, I had taken off my mask and a few of the peacocks, including the di-marked male stopped to stare until Shuu let out a warning growl. When they recovered themselves, the leader addressed the Tiger King.

Speaking loudly to be heard against the overwhelming sound of rain he said, "I believe our assistance is no longer needed. The fire has been extinguished and we will be returning to our village." Then the bird brain looked at me and smiled charmingly, "I don't think the weather will clear up anytime soon. Should your females need shelter, we can take them with us, but the males must remain outside the village."

My males plus Tristan growled at the thought of the females being taken away by this clan. But it was Harvey's voice of wisdom that had them rethinking the proposal. "Tiger King, with Bailey pregnant and many of the others still nursing and recovering from the journey, I hope you will take the peacock tribe up on their offer."

Winston looked at my leopard and then at me. His expression softened and he nodded. "Fine. The females and their nursing cubs will take shelter in the village. But the healer and his apprentice must be allowed to go with."

There was no way the peacocks would allow beastman of higher levels into their village. Only Oliver and Harvey could be viewed as unthreatening and useful as healers. Allowing more and stronger males was too much of a risk for their own females and it was the same reason they wouldn't let Muir meet Bai unless she was brought down to the river. I could see the wheels turning in the peacock's head and he mulled over the counter argument. After a moment, he agreed.

"Fine." He turned to me. "My name is Alva. Don't worry about a thing. I will take good care of you."

I frowned. I didn't like the idea of leaving my mates again. This felt too much like the time Mitchell kidnapped me. Nor did I like the idea of going with Alva. With his name and his appearance, I finally remembered who he was, and I didn't like it. He'd been a minor character in the novel. He was well known for being fickle, shallow and a downright bully. He had treated Bai terribly. And if the fire was any indication, she might still be within the village peeling pine nuts for Alva's crush.

On the other side of the coin, I didn't like the idea of young cubs and females staying out in this cold rain. We could make lean-to shelters but the chances of someone getting sick from having had been exposed to first smoke and then extreme humidity was high. I had to think about my tiger cubs as well. It would take days, maybe weeks for the males to build suitable places for us to reside while they made more permanent dwellings. This would also give the females of our group a chance to find peacock mates and tie our two groups together harmoniously. I could think of no better alternative and soon resigned myself to the idea.

I gave my mates a disgruntled look and sighed. I really wanted to whine and say, 'do I have to?'. I was grateful that I would have Harvey and Oliver by my side, but I still didn't want to go.

Winston pulled me into his arms and his tail wrapped around my waist. "It won't be long. When the rain stops, we'll start building temporary dens. As soon as those are complete, I'll come get you. I'll need you to tell me how you want our home to look." He smiled reassuringly.

Sarcasm dripped from his fangs as Lance said, "Once a king always a king. You're really good at making all the decisions by yourself." He gave Winston a pointed look. It seemed my snake wasn't too happy about it either. He wrapped me up in his tail and pulled me away from my tiger. "Don't be brave Bailey. If you need me, make sure you call me to your side this time." Then he kissed my wet forehead.

Shuu then reached for me, and Lance reluctantly let me fall into his arms. "Don't worry about Kit. Tristan and I will take good care of him." He said as he hugged me close.

Kit, hearing his name started going off with barks and yips. 'Mama? Do I have to stay with my papas? You'll be back soon right? You won't forget about me right?' My poor cub was not looking forward to his papa's stricter methods of child rearing.

Tristan responded to him in fox from where he sat nursing his injuries, 'Oi. You don't expect your mum to spoil you forever, do you? Your papas have so many things to teach you. Make sure you learn well so you can show your her how you've grown when she gets back.'

I kissed Shuu and asked him to put me down. Then I scooped up my muddy and wet cub up and rubbed my nose against his. "Don't worry cub. With your papas working together, I'll be back in no time. Behave and stay close to them."

Right. This wasn't some long-term goodbye. Between Lance, Winston, Tristan and Shuu, the temporary dens would be built in a few days.

"So dramatic. You all act like you'll never see each other again," Alva scoffed then smirked, "Though who knows, maybe the females will like our village so much, they won't want to go back to you." He laughed.

"If you come back with a peacock mate, I'll eat him." Said Lance with a glare at Alva.

"Hmmph" was all Alva replied. Then Shuu took the pouting Kit from me, and Alva changed into his peacock form, leaning down for me to get on his back. I couldn't help but admire his beautiful plumage. It really was magnificent. Maybe I'll pluck a few during the ride and blame my nonexistent fear of heights. While I mounted Alva, Harvey got Ollie and they shifted to follow on foot. Then Alva flapped his wide blue wings and shot us up through the rain, followed by the other peacocks carrying the eight females of our group.

By the time we got to the peacock village, Alva really was missing two handfuls of feathers. Turns out, I do have a fear of heights when I'm not strapped to a seat and surrounded by tons of human engineering. Who knew?